Starter for gas engines



March 1, 1927. 1,619,414

H. W. GOULD STARTER FOR GAS ENGINES j Original Filed Oct 13. 1921' 4 Patented Mar. 1, 1927.

UNITED STATES 1,519,414 PATENT OFFICE.

HARRY WILLIAM GAULD, F BRANDON, MANITOBA, CANADA.

STARTER FOR GAS ENGINES.

Application filed October 13, 1921, Serial No. 507,522. Renewed October 22, 1926.

My invention is in relation to a gas engine starter sometimes known as the Bendix drlve consisting in part of an inertia pinion that goes longitudinally as well as rotatably on its shaft into mesh with the engine wheel and has a flexible spring connection between the screw shaft it is on and the starting motor shaft that is the core of the assembly. Its manufacture is licensed under Patent :/:/:1,095,96 and has many other patents in connection with it. In its longitudinal and rotary motions in its act of meshing, it strikes the sides of the fly-Wheel teeth that habituallystop opposite it because of engine compression. Sometimes in starting the engine under certain circumstances a tooth is broken out, though not often, but always and under any circumstances a little of the metal of these engine compression chosen teeth is taken off, until finally the teeth are off all the way across with the attendant heavy expense of a new fly-wheel and still heavier eK- pense if it is installed by incompetent or careless workmen, who are common.

The object of my invention is to remove the damaging feature from this starter and make it almost ideal, benefitting a great number of gas engine automobile owners as the vast majority of gas engines are started by this drive. Another object is to do away with part of the sound caused by the engagement of the driving member or pinion.

The gist of the invention, which is generic, consists in merely turning this inertia pinion backward, by whatsoever means may be convenient in the different makes of engines by about one turn before the starting motor is started, by which time the leaves or teeth of the pinion have become meshed with the teeth of the wheel, engaging the pinion in this way the disc need not be an inertia or weighted one.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation of the back end of the V. Bendix pinion 3, Fig. 1, Patent #l,172,864. It also sufficiently represents the J. Bijur pinion 59, Fig. 4, Patent #1,095,696, under license of which the first named pinion is made. I have chosen this view as the simplest way to illustrate the application of my improvement which is applied here or adjacent hereto in most of the devices possible for attaining this result.

Figure 2 is an embodiment of one of them and is a ring pulley (1) Whose inside is to be attached upon the periphery of disc (2) Fig. 1 and whose outside diameter is grooved to carry a belt (3) as shown, for the manipulation of the pinion (4) previous to starting the motor. Figure 3 shows the pulley (1) upon the pinion disc (2) that is at tached to pinion (4) Fig. 1. The belt can be used in any convenient way as for instance on a pulley on a shaft protruding through the driving compartment instrument board and terminating in a small hand wheel. Figure 4 is a view showing the invention as applied to the conventional form of self starter.

Whilst I have shown a belt and pulley driven thereby it will be readily understood that any driving means could be substituted for reversing the starter pinion prior to the starting of the starting motor. Describing the operation of mesh ing: When the pinion is turned backwards, that is in the opposite direction to that which it takes in starting the engine, it rotates upon its threaded shaft and takes a longitudinal direction until its leaves or teeth come in contact with those of the flywheel, when its longitudinal motion temporarily stops while its rotary motion continues thereby pulling into itself the threaded shaft it is on and for that reason compresses the driving spring that is at the end thereof. As soon as the teeth of the pinion and the wheel that are touching at the time have passed one another in the rotary motion, the driving spring snaps the screw threaded shaft and pinion forward longitudinally, and pinion and engine wheel are in mesh; The pinion may be rotated a space or two further, on account of the beveled shape of its tooth sides, and meshes deeper with each, but whether that is done or not the starting motor can be started with no damage to the fly wheel.

I claim:

The combination with a conventional engine starter of the type including a driving gear, a driven screw threaded shaft and a pinion having threaded engagement with the shaft to advance toward the driving gear during rotation of the shaft, of a driving member attached to the said pinion and means for driving said member to cause the pinion to rotate and to mesh with the driving gear prior to the starting of the starter.

HARRY WILLIAM GAULD. 

